Swimming pools, both residential and commercial, need to be cleaned and filtered regularly for health and aesthetic reasons. While there are pool cleaning services available for cleaning residential pools, many owners elect to clean their own pools. As such, any of a variety of different machines can be purchased for use in cleaning a residential pool. Exemplary pool-cleaning devices, with a collector or filter bag, are shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,822,754 and 4,618,420.
Most of these machines are designed to be submerged and move randomly along the pool floor and side walls. During operation debris and sediment are collected in a bag connected to the device. With the passage of time, the debris needs to be removed from the filter bag.
Known filter bags have included a seam that can be separated to allow for the removal of debris. The seam, typically, is held together by a Velcro® fastening strip. As a result of continuous use, specifically fastening and unfastening the Velcro®, the grip strength of the Velcro® decreases. Resultingly, the fastening strips begin to separate at various points, so that debris is not held in the bag. Ultimately, the fastening strips will separate completely preventing retention of the debris. When the strips can no longer hold the seam together, a new bag must be installed. As such, it is desired to have a filter bag that has a fastening device that does not readily separate with use and the passage of time. In particular, it is desired to have a bag that does not have to be frequently replaced.